U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,661 entitled "Bearing Support Structure Combining Fluid Damping and Spring Damping Apparatus" granted to R. A. Marmol on July 22, 1980 and assigned to the same assignee as this patent application, typifies a fluid damper that is constructed with a plurality of arcuate beams that are mounted end-to-end to surround the bearing. As disclosed in that patent, the bearing is free to move orbitally about its annular cavity. This motion is transmitted to the fluid in the damper which in turn generates a hydrodynamic pressure which resists further displacement and effectively dampens the vibratory motions. Curved beam dampers, while efficacious for damping high loads are costly to manufacture, install and maintain. Obviously, because the individual segments must be manufactured with close tolerances and care must be used in assembling the parts, they are considered complex and impose a potential wear problem on multiple parts.
I have found that I can construct the damper with a full ring having oil filled cavities spaced around the circumference that simplifies the overall design and obviates the problems eluded to in the above, without a reduction of damping characteristics of segmented beam designs.